Alex Salmond: Queen said she didn’t ‘purr’ after Scottish independence no vote

Alex Salmond has said the Queen “assured” him she had not “purred down the line” to David Cameron as the Prime Minister had claimed after Scotland voted against independence.

Mr Salmond said that the Queen had denied she expressed a view on the referendum result, when she met him at Balmoral a week after the vote in September 2014.

Mr Cameron was caught on camera talking about how the Queen “purred down the line” after he phoned her to say Scotland had rejected independence.

However, Mr Salmond said he believed “Her Majesty the Queen” when she denied making the remarks, rather than the Prime Minister.

The former First Minister talked about his post-referendum meeting at Balmoral with the Queen as he hosted his weekly radio talkshow on the London-based broadcaster LBC yesterday.

He said: “The truth is that constitutional monarchies should stay out of referendums.

“I don’t think for a minute that her Majesty the Queen actually intervened in the Scottish referendum.”

Mr Salmond, when asked about Mr Cameron’s remarks about the Queen’s purring, said: “Well, I know that’s not true. I’ll tell you why I know its not true. The morning after the referendum, David Cameron, you remember, boasted to Michael Bloomberg, apparently overheard on a microphone saying that.

“It was a week after the referendum, I was asked to Balmoral the following day where Her Majesty the Queen assured me it wasn’t the case.

“Who do I believe? Her Majesty the Queen, Queen of Scots or a Tory Prime Minister.”

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman declined to comment on “private conversations”.

Scottish Conservative MSP Alex Johnstone accused Mr Salmond of breaching the confidence of a private conversation with the Queen.

“He’s not meant to break the confidence of the Queen, but he’d happily do so if he thought it would further the SNP’s agenda.”